by Bekah Harris
As quietly as he could manage, Bear slipped out of bed, his feet cooling against hardwood floors. He was wearing a pair of unfamiliar pajama pants an inch or two too short for his long legs. Pain seared through his back as he stood, and he remembered that Alena had stabbed him.
Damn her. She had more lives that a cat.
Had Ivy been able to save Queen Lyric? Had they made it safely out of Summer? As the poison from the blade had mingled with his blood, Bear had grown delirious, going in and out of consciousness. He recalled Ivy’s magic, the icy blades she had managed to produce in the midst of the Summer heat. But he remembered nothing after that—if he had really seen it at all.
Moving soundlessly across the floor, he reached for the doorknob and tried to turn it.
Nothing.
He was locked in.
The sound of footsteps climbing stairs echoed from somewhere beyond the door, and Bear hurried back to the bed, feigning sleep. His heart pounded. A key scraped against metal, which was followed by the pop of the turning lock. Through barely opened eyes, Bear saw an older woman in the doorway carrying a tray. He opened his eyes.
“Nan?”
Balancing the tray on one hand, Ivy’s human grandmother moved her index finger to her lips, urging him to be silent. Once he nodded, she used the same finger to point to the floor, indicating the lower level. There was someone else downstairs.
Nan’s boots thudded across the floor and she settled the tray on the table beside him.
“How many?” Bear whispered.
Nan held up three fingers.
He was in Nan’s house, which meant he was in Burnsville, only miles from Kingston Academy and the portal that led to the Winter Court. In the distance, hurried footsteps climbed the stairs. Nan held her finger to her lips once again before settling the tray on his lap. She stood aside just as Alena entered the room, dressed in ill-fitting human clothes. Slaine and Teagan followed her into the room, the three of them staring at him with satisfied smiles.
“It appears our hero has awakened,” Alena said.
“What do you want?” Bear asked. “What kind of game are you playing here?”
He gestured to Nan, who had backed away from the bed and flattened herself against the wall, as if trying to stay as far away from Alena and her daughters as possible.
“The kind that lures our favorite little Princess back to the Human Realm to rescue her beloved guard and her innocent Grannie.”
Bear scoffed, shaking his head. “Queen Lyric will never allow it. Not for a lowly guard. Or a lowly human.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Slaine said.
She stepped toward him with a wry smile, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “But in the meantime, think of all the fun we’ll have.”
Bear didn’t bother concealing his contempt.
“That’s okay,” she said. “If you want to play hard to get, there are ways to make you comply.”
Slaine nodded to her sister. “Teagan, would you like to do the honors?”
Teagan smiled, her face contorting with reptilian satisfaction. She turned her head to Nan, her ice-like eyes falling on Ivy’s grandmother, the irises swirling like a storm. Suddenly, Nan began to shiver and then to tremble. Sweat beaded on her forehead. The shuddering grew worse. Holding her shaking hand over her mouth, she coughed with a deep rattling sound.”
“Humans are so fragile,” Teagan said in a low voice. “So susceptible to illness. To disease.”
“Stop!” Bear said. “Just stop. No one needs to get hurt.”
“Oh, we agree,” Alena said. “All we want is Ivy, but it will be a while before she puts everything together. In the meantime, I think we can keep ourselves occupied…with one or the other of you.”
Bear swallowed, taking one last look at Nan—one of three people in the entire world—human or Fae—that Ivy trusted. Bear would never forgive himself if he allowed anything to happen to her while he could prevent it. He met Slaine’s cold stare and nodded.
“That’s just what I hoped you’d decide.”
Alena waved her hand, and Nan, completely under their spell, did as she was commanded. Once she had closed the door behind her, Alena and her two daughters closed in on him, licking their lips like starving demons.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Ardan was waiting with Jules and Padraic when Ivy returned to her room.
“Well?” Jules asked. “What happened?”
“Exactly what you said would happen,” Ivy said. “I can’t believe her. After everything, she expects me just to sit here and play dress up and go to revelries? How can I do that? What kind of person would I be if I just sat back and did nothing?”
“A princess who knows her people come first,” Ardan said.
“Oh, that’s rich coming from you,” Ivy hissed.
“He’s right, though, hypocritical as it is,” Padraic said. “I know you…owe Barrett a great debt. I know you are…close friends. But as Crown Princess of the Winter Realm, your first duty is always to your people.”
Ardan took her hand and pulled her to the window, urging her to sit. He knelt beside her chair, still holding her hand. “You have bound your magic with your mother’s. If you leave the Winter Realm, and she remains here, that magic will weaken and your people will be vulnerable again.”
Ivy didn’t bother disguising her groan as she pulled her hand away. Ardan was right. She knew he was right, but it hurt her to admit it.
“Well, how can I find him?” Ivy asked. “There has to be something I can do to at least figure out where he is so that we can send a team to the right location.”
Ardan rose with a jerk and turned away from her. Clearly, he didn’t appreciate her fervor to find Bear. Well, too bad. She’d be married to him soon enough. She’d exercise her freedom while she still had it.
“Why do you care so much about your guard?” If Ardan was trying to control the volume of his voice, he was failing miserably. “His job is to protect you, not the other way around.”
“Because he was a friend first,” Ivy said. “If you knew anything at all about loyalty, you’d understand.”
Ardan looked at her as if she’d slapped him. “I have made mistakes,” he said. “I can’t undo what’s been done, as much as I’d like to. And as difficult as it is for you to believe it, I do care what happens to you.”
“If you cared half as much as you claim, you would never have helped my psycho auntie escape. An act which led to events that nearly killed all of us. My mother never would have been taken, and Bear wouldn’t be missing.”
“Then, do what you wish,” Ardan yelled, “but don’t expect us to come running to your rescue if you act recklessly and against all recommendations!”
“Trust me, I would never expect anything else from you!”
Ardan threw his hands in the air with an exaggerated groan and stormed out of the room. Padraic stood by the table with pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. Jules shifted her weight back and forth, swaying as she watched Ivy with a concerned expression. Finally, Padraic straightened, rubbing his face.
“I’d better go after him before he does something stupid,” he said. “Your Highness, I know you are upset. I know your care about Bear, but please, don’t go charging off to the human realm. It will endanger your people.”
She nodded, throwing her head back against the cushioned back of the chair and closed her eyes for a few seconds. She opened them just in time to see Padraic kiss Jules’ hand and disappear through the doorway.
“So…when did that happen?” Ivy asked.
Jules shrugged. “I’m not sure anything is actually happening.”
“He seems pretty smitten to me,” Ivy said. Then, she scolded herself for being interested in her best friend’s crush. She longed for a time when those would be the most important issues once again.
“It’s hard to believe Padraic and Ardan are even related,” Ivy said.
“Maybe you should e
ase up on Ardan a little,” Jules said gently. “He didn’t leave your side for three days. Neither did I. He only left because Padraic told him he smelled. And it he did. It was bad…”
Ivy didn’t want to think about Ardan. She didn’t want to acknowledge what she already knew. She was about to say so when the side door to her room rattled. She stood, crossing the floor to stand in front of Jules. Her heart pounded as a key rattled inside and the crescent shaped lock turned.
Nareena stepped inside, looking wild-eyed and trembling.
“What is it?” Ivy asked her. “What’s happened?”
Nareena held up her hand, taking several deep breaths before answering. “The Lady Alena bids me tell you that she and her daughters are making sure Bear gets everything thing he needs as he recovers from his injuries.” She swallowed, hesitating. “At the home of Ms. Lucinda Hawthorne.”
Ivy was so stunned, she took several backward steps and began to pace. They had Barrett. And Nan. They had gone into Nan’s home and were now using her in their deadly game. Ivy had a feeling she hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface of what the three of them were capable of when together.
“I’m so sorry, Your Highness,” Nareena wailed. “I do not wish to be the bearer of such terrible news.”
“What can we do?” Jules asked. “I agree you belong here and all, but this is Nan we’re talking about.”
“I know, I know,” Ivy hissed. “I just need a second to think.”
She needed someone on her side. Someone who had as much to lose if Nan were harmed as Ivy. Someone who had the ear of a King.
“Nareena?” Ivy stopped in her tracks, the answer slamming into her like a battering ram.
“What can I do, Your Highness?”
“How quickly can you get a message to the Summer Court?”
“Why, lickety-split, Your Highness.”
Smiling, Ivy rushed to the table and began scrawling her message. Once it was written, she hastily folded it, held the wax to the candle burning beside it and pressed the royal seal into the blob that fell onto the paper.
“Take this straight to Lady Violet,” Ivy said. “Tell her that Lucinda Hawthorne’s life depends upon her help.”
Nareena nodded and disappeared back through the door she had entered.
“Violet?” Jules asked. “Are you sure you can trust her?”
“She left Winter because she’s in love with Damarion. They both betrayed Alena and King Zane. Violet is close to the Summer King.”
Jules smiled. “Impressive. You’re starting to think like a true royal.”
Smiling and filled with hope in her new plan, Ivy grabbed her daggers from the closet and tossed a fresh set of fighting leathers at Jules.
“Ready to go home?”
Jules grinned. “Dahling, I thought you’d never ask.”
As Jules started changing her clothes, Ivy stared out the window that overlooked her mother’s beautiful ice gardens, allowing them to take shape in her memory. She wouldn’t return until she knew Nan was safe. She wouldn’t come back until Bear was with her.
And she didn’t know how long that would be.
Behind her, Jules tied the last lacings of her leathers and unleashed an audible exhale. “No more Fae pastries for me. These corsets are cruel.” She touched Ivy gently on the shoulder. “Are you ready?”
She turned to her best and, perhaps, only friend in the world. “You know what, Jules, for the first time in my life, I think I am.”
Then, she took Jules’ hand and pulled her toward the door to the back stairwell that led to the portal room. There, they would pass through the stones to the human realm.
About the Author
Born and raised in the mountains of East Tennessee, Bekah Harris has been writing since she could hold a pencil. The beauty of her home in the Appalachian Mountains, along with the legends, myths, and folklore of that area, is what inspires the unique plots and settings captured in her young adult fiction. In addition to her love of all things fictional, Bekah is also a freelance writer and editor, an occasional adjunct professor, and a social marketing director. When not working, Bekah can be found at home building block towers for her son to knock down, drinking coffee and watching Netflix with her husband, and trying to win the approval of her grouchy calico cat.
